MADAM – In March 2000 Comic Book Auctions took delivery of over a thousand US comics from a chap called John who lived near Bristol.
He had explained to us that his uncle, who lived in the US, used to send him the latest superhero comics as they came out, month by month, title by title. Some of the comics were even accompanied by individual letters about how the characters were to develop and, if successful, progress to their own titles.
If you haven’t already guessed, his uncle was a Mr Stanley Lee, president emeritus of Marvel Comics. I then suggested to John that we might give the collection a ‘name’ to benefit from the premium that such a magnificent provenance deserved and the ‘Uncle Stan collection’ was born, the first signature collection ever offered in the UK.
However, John said he would have to write to his uncle to get his express permission, and a week or so later Stan replied:
Hi John, Of course you can call your collection of comics The Uncle Stan Collection, I hope you make a fortune,
Excelsior! ‘Uncle’ Stan.
PS My attorney will call you later to discuss my percentage. PPS Just kidding!
God bless Uncle Stan, RIP.
